Slash's Pet Turtle
by kiosakishi
Summary: Based on "Slash and Destroy" episode of TMNT 2012 series. It's kind of "something went wrong" AU. One-shot.


Raph lied on the cold and wet sewer floor, his both hands tied up with a strong rope. The rope's other end was tied in a metal pole. Raph was hurt, cold and tired as well as hungry and thirsty. His wrists were bleeding from the parts where the rope had abraded them. A few feet away a giant turtle, much bigger than Raph was quietly sculpturing something. "How did it come to this?" Raph thought, staring at the other turtle melancholically.

Slash had attacked Don and Mikey. Then Raph fought against him and Leo came to his rescue. He and Raph fought Slash and Slash knocked Raph out. Raph had no idea what had happened to the others. The only thing that he knew was that Slash was wearing Don's and Mikey's bandanas around his arm. But not Leo's. Raph assumed, or at least hoped, that the missing bandana meant that Slash weren't able to beat Leo. Something had happened that caused Slash ran away. With Raph.

When Raph woke up, he was lying on the cold and wet ground, tied up. He tried to free himself but it was futile: the ropes were tied too tight. "Slash, let me go!" Raph yelled. The big turtle looked down at Raph. "No. You have to stay with me" Slash told.

"What…?" Raph asked, a slight anger could be heard from his voice. "It's only temporarily. After I get rid of those three, I'll set you free. Then we can fight the evil together" Slash told. "Fight the evil…? Can't you see that you are the evil one here?" Raph asked.

"I'm doing this for you" Slash told. "Don't. I don't want any of this. Just let me go" Raph told. "If I let you go now, you would just go back to those three. You don't need them. Didn't you say it yourself? All you need is me" Slash claimed.

"I… Spike I…" Raph started. "Slash" Slash corrected. "Whoever you are… Look… I'm sorry… It's all my fault that you became like this…" Raph started. "I'm not blaming you for my mutation. In fact, I'm grateful for that. Now I've become so much stronger than before" Slash told. "That's not what I was going to say. Well, though that also was because of my carelessness but… It's not that…" Raph said.

"I always was complaining you about the others and whenever they did something wrong but I don't think I never told you anything when they did something good for me. You only heard the negative things about my brothers but they aren't as bad I made you think. The reason you became like this was because I always forced you to listen my selfish complaining. I never thought how it would affect you. It's my darkness that turned you into this… I'm sorry Spike" Raph apologized, a few tears running down his cheeks.

"You wouldn't have complained if they didn't give you reason to. Or are you saying that all those unjustified things you told they did to you were just something you made up?" Slash asked. "I never lied to you, not even once" Raph replied and continued: "But…". "That's all I need to know" Slash interrupted.

"Here, drink this" Slash told and put a bottle near to Raph's mouth. "I won't drink the sewer water, if I do, I'll get sick" Raph told. "It's not from the sewer. I took it from a giant box where people get drinks. Look, there's lots of more" Slash told, showing Raph a pile of soft drink bottles. "I bet you didn't pay for them…" Raph said bitterly. "The box didn't give me any so I broke it in pieces" Slash replied. "Slash, that's stealing… And breaking those machines is also a crime. You can keep you stolen drinks, I don't want any. I'd rather drink the sewer water" Raph protested.

"Fine, you'll change your mind sooner or later" Slash told and put the bottle away. "So why are you staying here with me when you could be out there trying to get rid of my brothers?" Raph asked. "So you finally understood that we need to get rid of them?" Slash replied. "What? No! But why are you here instead of fighting them? Why did you run away?" Raph asked.

"It's… None of your business" Slash told. But when Raph looked at Slash more carefully he notices that Slash's body was covered with wounds, none of them were bleeding anymore though. "Just… How long I was out?" Raph asked. "A day maybe" Slash told. "I see… And after running away from my brothers, I guess you couldn't leave me here unguarded because you were afraid that I would run away or they would find me, right?" Raph asked.

"That's not all. I cannot leave you alone here when you're hurt" Slash told. "Says the one who hurt me" Raph spitted. "I didn't want to but you attacked me and I had no other choice" Slash explained. "You attacked my brothers. You had a choice" Raph replied. "How many times we have to go through this?" Slash asked.

"Slash, if you don't let me go now then I…" Raph started. "Then you what? You cannot do anything to me when your all tied up" Slash told. "I won't speak to you anymore" Raph stated. Slash froze still. "You cannot stay quiet for long. I've known you for many years now and you can't go a day without complaining" Slash told. Raph didn't answer anything, just glared fiercely at Slash.

Against Slash expectations, Raph really stayed silent. For a while, Slash didn't say a word either but he started to get frustrated. "I don't understand why you want to keep this going. Come on, say something. Complain about your brothers like you did in the past. You can even tell me how you hate me, anything is fine, just say something. Anything" Slash told. But Raph was staring at the opposite direction where Slash was.

"At least look at me!" Slash yelled and grabbed Raph's throat and raised him up. Raph was choking and tried to kick Slash. But soon he became still. His eyes were filled with tears when he gave Slash an angry glare. Slash realized that he was about to kill Raph and let go. Raph fell on the ground and started coughing.

Slash took a cola bottle from the pile of drinks and opened it. "Drink it" Slash commanded, pouring the drink in Raph's mouth when he was gasping for air. The drink went down the wrong way and caused Raph to once more cough uncontrollably and spit out the cola.

Raph curled up against the wall, panting and shaking a little. "Look, I'm sorry, I wasn't supposed to choke you" Slash apologized. Raph turned around and looked at Slash with eyes filled with hatred. Like saying: "I won't forgive you, not this time"

A day had passed. Raph lied on the floor, blankly gazing to nowhere. Slash had been outside and came back carrying few lettuces with him. "Here" Slash told squatting in front of Raph, offering the lettuce to him. Raph glanced at Slash, refusing to open his mouth.

"You have to eat" Slash told. But Raph ignored him. "This is stupid. You won't gain anything from refusing to eat or drink. Just open your mouth already" Slash ordered trying to stuff the salad in Raph's mouth by force. But Raph stubbornly fought back. Slash lost his temper and threw the salad against the ground, causing it to break in pieces.

Slash sat next to Raph his hands wrapped around his knees. "Why do you have to be so stubborn?" Slash mumbled. "Can't you just be like you used to be?" he whispered so quietly that Raph wasn't able to hear him.

Two days passed and Raph still refused to speak as well as drink and eat. The most of time he seemed to be sleeping. Slash was starting to get stressed out. To make sure that Raph really was just sleeping, every now and then Slash shook Raph awake. After getting an angry glare from Raph, Slash let him sleep again.

Once again Slash tried to feed Raph with lettuce. "It's like the old days… Except our roles have been switched" Raph thought staring at the lettuce. His mouth was dry and he was so hungry that it made him dizzy but his pride didn't allow him to take the stolen goods Slash was offering to him. But he couldn't keep this up for long, sooner or later he had to give in. Or die. But Raph was hoping that his brother would find him before that or Slash would let him go. The last one wasn't very likely though. Or so Raph thought.

"I really thought he would have given up by now" Slash thought looking at Raph who was sleeping on the floor. Slash gently stroke Raph's cheek. It was colder than before. Slash panicked and shook Raph to wake him up. After a short while Raph opened his eyes and Slash gave a relieved sigh. He wrapped his hands around the teenager's cold body to make Raph warm.

Raph was a little bit surprised Slash doing this but he didn't show any kind of reaction. He was too tired to. His head was pounding and it was hard to keep his eyes open. "Please… I don't want you to die" Slash told. But he didn't get any kind of answer from Raph. Slash was feeling guilty about letting Raph get in this shape. If they both kept being this stubborn, Raph would die. And Slash could not know if Raph was ever going to give in.

"You… You can go… I'll set you free" Slash said quietly. Raph glared at him, like he was telling that he was not believing Slash's words. Slasg cut the ropes restraining Raph. Instead of running away, Raph just lied on the floor and went back to sleep. Slash was about to reach out for Raph when something stung him. Slash turned around and something stung him again. This time he could see a needle flying through the air. He started to wobble and fell on the floor.

Even though he couldn't move his body, Slash could see three turtles to come out. Two of them ran to Raph and lifted him up, one of them stole the bandanas tied on Slash arm and then the turtles ran away. It took a while before Slash could move again and when he tried to run after the teenagers, they were already long gone.

When Raph woke up he could see the same ceiling that he had been staring for over ten years now. He tried to get up but a hand was placed on his shoulder and it gently pushed him back down. "You still need to rest my son" a familiar voice told. Raph turned to his side and could see Master Splinter, as well as his brothers, who where all asleep.

"What… Happened?" Raph asked with barely hearable voice. "Drink this first" Splinter told offering Raph some water. Raph emptied the glass and then mumbled: "I was seeing a weird dream… Spike mutated and turned evil… Then he attacked my brothers and…. Kept me as his prisoner…"

There was a pained expression on Master Splinters face. "Master Splinter… Where is Spike?" Raph asked. "My son… You weren't dreaming. A few days ago your brothers returned here wounded, without you. They told me how they got attacked by Spike who was now known as Slash. And that Slash took you away and kept you tied up with no food or water. It took them few days to find and save you from Slash. You were suffering from malnutrition and dehydration. Donatello treated you and all your brothers stayed here waiting for you to wake up but they fell asleep themselves" Master Splinter told taking a glance of the other three.

"No, it wasn't like that… Slash kept me tied up but he was trying his best to take care of me… But I was too stubborn and proud to take the food and drinks he stole… But also… It was my fault that Spike turned out like this. Everything that happened to me… I deserved it. It was my darkness that turned Spike evil" Raph said.

"You shouldn't be blaming yourself for all this. You could have never known that things would turn out like this and there was nothing you could have done differently and even if there was, you cannot change the past. But changing the future, it's still possible" Splinter told smiling at Raph.

"Mnh…. Sensei, Raph could you please be quiet I…" Don mumbled half-asleep then got up shouting: "RAPH?!" Both Leo and Mikey woke up after hearing Don's yelling. "You're okay! To be honest I was not sure if you were going to make it… I mean…" Donnie said taking Raph's hand to his own. Don's other hand was in a cast.

"You're awake Raphie!" Mike rejoiced and jumped to hug Raph. "Mikey, get off me…" Raph said trying to push Mikey off but felt sharp pain in his wrist. There were bandages covering the wounds caused by the rope. "I'm sorry… For letting Slash to kidnap you and taking so much time to save you… Even though I know that plain sorry won't cut it this time but…" Leo started but Raph interrupted him saying: "No, I'm the one who should be apologizing to you guys. It's my fault that Slash turned out that way and tried to kill you. I'm… Sorry…"

"I think I didn't hear the last one right. Could you repeat it once more?"Mikey jeered. "I'm sorry" Raph repeated. "Still can't hear you" Mikey teased. "I'M SORRY OKAY?! IF YOU TRY TO MAKE ME REPEAT IT ONCE MORE THEN YOU'LL BE SORRY!" Raph yelled but ended up coughing because his throat was still really dry.

"Take it easy, you aren't fully recovered yet" Don told. "Yes, maybe it would be best if some of us left so you could get some more rest" Leo said glaring at Mikey. "Huh? Why are you looking at me? Is there something on my face?" Mikey asked wiping his cheeks with his hand. Leo sighed and dragged Mikey away.

Don made Raph eat some soup and after making sure that Raph would be okay, he left Raph alone. Raph lied on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

"I wonder if Slash is going to be alright… And if there is some way to make him go to back the kind and understanding Spike?" Raph thought. But his eyelids were getting heavy and soon he had fallen in deep sleep.


End file.
